Letter to the Editor: Summit residents still need to separate recyclables

Members of the Summit Recycling Advisory Committee have received questions from community members about whether they still need to separate their curbside recyclables. The question has arisen because many people have noticed that they have seen Great Northern Recycling truck workers combining paper with commingled recyclables (metal, glass and plastic) the recyclables in their trucks at curbside collection. Community members have asked whether this means they no longer have to separate out the paper from the other recyclables. The short answer is that recyclables do still need to be separated, with paper and cardboard in one container and glass, plastic and metal in a second container.

The combined collection of recyclables is known in the recycling world as “single stream” and the separate collection of paper and commingled materials (metal, glass and plastic) is known as “dual stream.” Summit’s current curbside recycling contract with Great Northern calls for dual stream recycling. However, Great Northern has been conducting pilot studies of single stream collection in various Summit neighborhoods to determine its cost and efficiency. Summit’s contract, however, does still require residents to separate their recyclables of that system.

The City of Summit tries to balance the convenience to its residents with the costs incurred in operating a recycling program. As the technology for single stream recycling improves, it may become more economically feasible for Summit to move to a single stream collection system in its next curbside collection contract. In the meantime, residents should continue to separate paper and other fibers, such as cardboard and corrugated cardboard, from their commingled metal, glass and plastic recycling.